# Product placement in literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941 "2012-01-09T17:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/1 "2012-01-09T17:43:55Z")
I’ve been reading the “Dresden Files” and noticed Harry’s fondness for Coke. I know if you were to have it on a TV show or movie, you need permission from Coca-Cola or otherwise you blur it out, tape, etc. it out. What about books and literature such as poems? Shouldn’t the same rule apply regardless of medium? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/2 "2012-01-09T17:56:54Z")
Your assumption is wrong. There is no requirement to get permission to show a trademarked product in literature or in films or TV. Otherwise, it’d be impossible to shoot anything live on a city street (the cars alone are different makes and models). Do you think Morgan Spurlock got McDonald’s approval for **Supersize Me**? Product placement is the TV or movie producers going to a company and saying, “If you pay us money, we’ll put your product in our film.” If the company refuses, the producers find a different company with a similar product. It’s a way of financing. But if you don’t have to ask permission, and a company can’t refuse to let you use their products. Free speech trumps trademark law. Some TV shows do blur out names, but only because they couldn’t get the money from Coke and want to spite them. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/3 "2012-01-09T18:03:08Z")
I should add that, since you don’t need to ask permission for movies and TV, you also don’t have to ask permission for written literature. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/4 "2012-01-09T18:53:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Some TV shows do blur out names, but only because they couldn’t get the money from Coke and want to spite them. It’s not spite. They may wish to get sponsorship from Mountain Dew at some point in time and it will be hard to do if a star is wearing a Coke shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/5 "2012-01-09T19:05:51Z")
Note that you DO need to get permission if you quote song lyrics, and that it can be quite expensive and/or difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/6 "2012-01-11T17:03:51Z")
On a related note, I have a copy of the paperback version of Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins, published in 1972. It has a tear-out ad for a subscription to Sports Illustrated–28 weeks for $4.89. (Note that this ad is part of the published volume, it’s not a bookmark.) I’ve seen other books with cigarette ads as part of the book, too. ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/7 "2012-01-12T16:15:36Z")
I’m not sure how true this is, but I remember reading somewhere that Terry Pratchett was absolutely livid with the publishers of his translated novels in Germany because they had inserted ads for canned soup into the text without telling him. Not really what you’re asking in the OP, but definitely product placement in literature. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/8 "2012-01-12T16:24:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I should add that, since you don’t need to ask permission for movies and TV, you also don’t have to ask permission for written literature. Shouldn’t that be the other way around, since literature predates TV and Radio? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/9 "2012-01-12T16:30:43Z")
Sure, but the question was “Since you need permission for radio and TV, how does it work for books?” The initial premise was false; showing that answers the question, not matter what the chronological order was. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/10 "2012-01-12T16:47:34Z")
> [@Private\_Bin](#): > > I’m not sure how true this is, but I remember reading somewhere that Terry Pratchett was absolutely livid with the publishers of his translated novels in Germany because they had inserted ads for canned soup into the text without telling him. > > Not really what you’re asking in the OP, but definitely product placement in literature. I don’t think so – the publishers simply placed an ad part-way through the novel, which is no different than a commercial break in a TV programme. It clearly wasn’t part of the text of the novel. Actual product placement would be more like what Ian Fleming did in his novels, where he had James Bond consulting his Rolex Oyster watch before lighting up with his rolled gold Dunhill cigarette lighter between sips of Red Label lager. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/11 "2012-01-12T17:01:39Z")
One of the things I love about Rex Stout’s _Nero Wolfe_ stories is that he doesn’t use existing brands, but makes them up. Archie drives a **Heron** sedan. Wolfe drinks **Remmers** beer Locks are **Bermat** s Archie’s gun is a **Marley** …and so on. Robert Goldsborough, continuing the series, continued the tradition. _Fade to Black_ featured a soft drink called **Cherokee**. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/product-placement-in-literature/608941/12 "2012-01-12T17:06:51Z")
But if you’re not familiar with the brands, you won’t even know it was product placement. I read at least a dozen of Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury novels before I realized that Jury’s favorite libation, Old Peculier, was an actual beer. I just thought it was a funny name that Grimes made up until I saw another author post about it on Facebook.